Sunday, August 20, 2006

RACE REPORT: CCCX DH #1

Since I couldn't get out of some home obligations to get up to Tahoe for Sky Tavern, I got up extra early this morning and set out for the Monterey debut of the CCCX Downhill (CCCX DH #1). And I wasn't disappointed.

We had about fifty racers (pure guess on my part) one hundered racers signed up by noon. Although we were all assigned start times, by the time the start rolled around, they were quickly scrubbed for a first-come, first-served policy. The organizers just wrote your start time on your racing number and then sorted it out at the bottom. Suprisingly, this worked really well -- they had results posted promptly and accurately.

The course a mix of flat out speed and loose turns. After the considerable hike a bike to the start line, you queued for your countdown. The course went straight down a fireroad across a few waterbars (there were a lot of these all through the course) from the starting line. Then left onto singletrack through a reverse S curve, back onto the fireroad with a hard left and up a hellish 100' climb (that no one was in the correct gear for). That section basically decided the race as far as I was concerned. To finish it out, there was a sharp switchback, then screaming down a fast and loose left bender to the finish. It totaled out to 1.61 miles with 879' drop with 129' of climbing.

My run started well considering that it was my first downhill. I cruised down the fireroad at 25 MPH, but had to brake hard for the S curve. I ran a little off course there, but recovered to charge uphill. Unfortunately, after I crested the hill and got back onto the singletrack, I made a poor line choice (following the hub deep rut) and washed out. Picking the bike back up, I tried to make my time back but that just led to a sloppy missed turn. Undaunted, I got my composure back together to at least look fast through the final bender towards the finish line. My 05:30+ time put me 3rd in my class when I left (some people may have still been on the course). The fastest time I saw was 04:11 by one of the pro/semi-pro guys. It was getting late and I need to get on the road for my 3+ hour ride home before the awards were past out.

A cool race all the way around. I haven't seen any results yetResults are up here, and here are my pictures from today (I've added a few since this afternoon; Some even have preliminary results):